Harrington and Mullins can land blows for depleted Irish

A month ago, the Irish contingent that will descend on Cheltenham this week had every hope of repeating last year's record haul of 10 Festival victories. Ambitions are now more circumspect after a series of big names have been ruled out but the raiding party is still sure to make an impact.

My task is to pick out the most interesting bets from among the visitors, with the aim of producing a net profit over the four days and hopefully we can get off to a flyer with a three-point bet on Gemini Lucy in the second race of the meeting, the Arkle Trophy tomorrow.

From the Jessica Harrington yard that won this with Moscow Flyer five years ago, Gemini Lucy is not in that class but she may not have to be. Toughened up by seven outings over fences since last summer, she was beaten only by the Champion Chase contender Nickname in her most recent start and represents great value at the current best price of 16-1.

Denman will be a hot favourite for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase on Wednesday but I'm siding with Chelsea Harbour, who will be hard to keep out of the frame at a huge 40-1 (Coral and VCBet). Tom Mullins' charge was well beaten on his first attempt at this level but I feel he was the victim of poor tactics - he is expected to show up more prominently here and is worth a couple of points each-way.

Irish runners have a great record in Wednesday's Coral Cup and New Field, also trained by Mullins, is worth another two points each-way. This one has already put up two great efforts in major handicaps this year, running third in the Pierse Hurdle and seventh of 20 in the Totesport Trophy. A half-mile step up in trip should produce the necessary improvement to see him home in front.

New Field already heads the market but 8-1 is still bigger than he should be and he could be one of the gambles of the week.

Our runners have traditionally fared far less well in the other major handicap hurdle of the week, the County Hurdle on Friday. Harrington, however, has pulled off this trick in the past, with Spirit Leader in 2003, and her Callow Lake has the look of a plot horse. He is certainly worth a final two points each-way at the generally available 25-1.